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Abstract
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In this study, kinetic and in-situ spectro-electrochemistry techniques were employed to investigate the electrosynthesis of a series of conducting polymer/zinc oxide nanocomposites. Poly(p-aminophenol) (PAP), poly(ophenylenediamine) (PPD), poly(p-aminophenol-o-phenylenediamine) P(AP–PD), PAP/ZnO, PPD/ZnO, and (P (AP–PD)/ZnO) nanocomposites were fabricated via in-situ electropolymerization on gold electrodes. The thus prepared polymers were characterized by cyclic voltammetry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, in-situ conductivity measurements, and in-situ UV–vis spectro-electrochemistry. The mechanism of formation of P(AP–PD) was proposed and tested. Evidence from kinetic investigations indicate that the polymerization and copolymerization reactions were obtained at 0.65, 0.71, and 0.77 orders with respect to the AP/ZnO, PD/ZnO, and AP–PD/ZnO concentrations and 0.59, 0.61 and 0.68 orders with respect to the amount of AP/ZnO, PPD/ZnO, and P(AP–PD)/ZnO in sulfuric acid. Kinetic and in-situ conductivity evidence indicates that the polymerization growth and electron charge-transfer rates of P (AP–PD)/ZnO are higher than those of PAP/ZnO and PPD/ZnO. The absorption bands for polymer nanocomposites on an indium tin oxide electrode were observed by in-situ UV–vis spectro-electrochemistry at different potentials. Morphological evidence indicates for the polymer nanocomposites the presence of zinc oxide nanoparticles on the polymer backbone.
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